Walking toy.



F. cmi-2ST.

WALKING TOY.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 5. 1918.

1 9272629w Patented July 16', 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET x.

BMM

ATTORNEY5 F. CRIEST.

WALKING TOY.

APPLICATION FILED APR.5.1918.

Patented July 16, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 fron/fe?,

W ..l I H. I l w Tran?? FRANK CRIEST, 0F SHARPESVIIJLE, PENNSYLVANIA..

WALKING TOY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, i918..

Continuation of application Serial No. 219,661, led February 28, 1918. This application led April 5, 1918. Serial No. 226,929.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK CRIEST, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sharpesville, in the county of Mercer and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Walking Toy, of which the following is a specification.

My present application, which is a continuation of my copending application led February 28, 1918, Serial No. 219,661, for walking doll, has reference to improvements on that type of toys shown in my said coending application in which is included a gure, which may be a doll, a bird, an animal, or other objects having legs, and my present invention differentiates from what is disclosed in my copending application referred to, in that it is particularly adapted for animals or other objects having four legs, or the representation of two or more human forms, and in which the doll or four legged object, or a plurality of bodies having the human form, may assume the walking attitude, as they are pulled or pushed along over the licor or other base.

'With other objects that will hereinafter appear, my invention embodies certain im proved features in a walking toy such as is generally outlined in my other application referred to and all of which will be detailed in the following description, specifically pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a toy dog` embodying my invention.

ig. 2 is a. vertical section through the fore-part of the toy taken on the line 2 2- on Fig. 3,

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the lower portion of the toy and illustrates the action of tlhe legs when the toy is pulled across the oor.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line 4 4 on Fig.

Fig. 5 is a detail pers ective view ofthe rocker member which e ects the operations of the leg units.

Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of a modification of my invention, the same providing for the complete incasement of the walking gear.

-Fig. 8 isa detail perspective view of m invention as applied to a column of so diers.

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic plan illustrating the idea applied to a company of soldiers.

Fig. 10 is a detail view of one of the animals feet, the same being shown roughened to form a tractive surface.

In my present construction of walking toy, provision is made for presenting a body, which may be the representation of a four-legged animal, or a plurality of bodies having the human form connected to move as one body, such for example as a single file or a company of soldiers. v In the general arrangement, the parts that constitute my present construction of walking toy are su stantially that shown in the form of toy embodied in my copending application referred to since the basic lfeature of my present invention has reference to the means for coupling up a number of units or pairs of legs which may be joined for moving in unison, that is,-the left leg of all units is advancing as the other leg of all pairs of units is at rest, when the toy is arranged as indicating a plurality of human bodies or each two units or pairs of legs are joined (for example, when the toy represents a dog or other animal) so that as the right forward and the left back leg'of the animal advances the other two legs are at rest and appear as back stepping.

In my present showin of walking toy, the body, as shown in Fig. 1, is `that of a dog to which are connected a pair of stid front and a pair of stili' hind legs5--5 and they are pivotally joined to the body in any approved manner, preferably as presently explained, so that the legs may be readily swung backwardly andV orwardly but not sidewise.

When the toy is of the shape shown in Fig. 1 as stated, each unit or air of le s is preferably attached to the body by a bo t 6 which passes transversely through the said body and is secured by the bolt head at one end and at the other end by a clamp screw Ybolt 61 that engages a screw socket 62 in the adjacent end of the main boltn as shown.

When of manikin shape, as' shown in Fig. 8, the legs may. be individually joined to the body by ordinary wood screws as shown.

In my present construction, means similar to those shown in my copendlng application are combined with the body and the pair's of legs for causing said legs to appear as alternately stepping forward and backward as the toy is being pulled or pushed along the Hoor or other base, as presently will fully appear, and the said means include a rocker device 7 for each unit or pair of legs and each of the said devices 7 is horizontally disposed on a fiat bottom portionof the body, one of the said fiat bottom portions being adjacent to the pivoted ends of each pair of legs.

The device 7 is rockably mounted on a screw stud 8 that extends through a central aperture 7l in the device 7 and threads into the body 1 as shown.

To provide for the desired swinging of one leg as the other leg is temporarily held down in contact with the floor or other base, as hereinafter stated, the inner` adjacent faces of each unit or pair of legs have flared sockets -50 to receive the tapered ends of the rocker devices 7, it being apparent from the drawings that as the rocker device swings in the direction of the arrows as in Fig. 4, the leg at one side, as it moves in making a' forward step, correspondingly tends to move the body forwardly relatively to the other leg now resting on the floor or base, which gives the appearance of the said other legs down on the floor as moving backward as the other leg is stepping forwardly, the length of the step in my present construction being also limited the same as in the form shown in my copending application stated, by stop 9 formed on the body l, with which corresponding stop portions 56 on the legs engage as the body is pulled along and the said body swings forwardly with the stepping leg.

When the toy represents an animal as in Fig. l, or when it represents a plurality of two-legged bodies, (a company of soldiers, for example, as shown in Fig. 9) the different sets or units of legs must be so joined that they operate in unison.

When the plurality of units or sets of legs are, as it were, each in the nature of individual pairs of legs, as in Fig. 8, the leftI and right legs of all the sets or unitsare joined, preferably by paralleled longitudinally extended members 3-3, preferably stout wire, which connection provides for causing all of the soldiers to step on with either the right or left foot together.

When, however, the toy represents a dog, the two units of legs, the fore and back ones, as the toy is pulled along, assume the nat ural walking movement of a dog, the connection between the two sets of legs being such as to cause the pivoted back and front legs to present the alternate movement and for such purpose the left front leg is connected with the right back leg and the left back leg is connected with the right front leg, which is done by bending the wire connections 3 3, as at 30, and crossing the said connections as shown.

Lavaca@ From the foregoing taken in connection with the drawings, the complete construction of my present walking toy will be apparent.

To walk the toy all that is necessary isto pull the same slowly forward and since there is always a slight difference in the traction of the feet, the legs will assume a walk-l ing attitude, such operation, when the toy is composed of a plurality of objects each having two legs, being best explained as follows: Assuming the left legs (Fig. 3) as stepping forward in the direction indicated by the arrow y, the swing of the said legs oscillate the rocker devices 7 and through the several devices the right legs of each unit is swung backwardly until its stop 56, see Fig. 3, engages the body stop at that side.

f rIhe weight of the toy now shifts laterally onto the left legs which engage the floor as the right legs are swung forwardly to make the step, which motion is applied by reverse oscillation of thev rocker member 7, the latter now swing the bodies to indicate the left legs as moving backward until the stop shoulders of the legs engage their corresponding body stops at that side, when the weight of the bodies is again transferred onto the right legs and so on.

ln Figs. 6 and 7, I have illustrated a slightly modified form of my invention when the same is arranged as a walkingldog. In this latter form, substantially the same arrangement of operative partsis embodied as in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, excepting the manner of flexibly joining the front and back leg units.

In this modified form instead of having the link members 3 connect the front and back legs, the said members indicated by 35 are connected with the rocker devices 7 of the front and back leg unit and the said j rocker devices join with their respective leg members above the pivotal aXis thereof which, in the said modified form, are stout screws 36 arranged as above shown in Fig. 7.

By forming the legs with the upper eXtensions and mounting the rocker devices 7 and connecting the said devices of the front and back leg units instead of making the connecting members with the leg members, the entire loperating mechanism may he readily incased within the body l by a cover plate 10 thereby giving the dog a perfectly natural appearance. Y

1.. A walking toy that includes a body having a plurality of leg units adapted to frictionally engage a base, each unit comprlsmg a pair of legs and means connecting the several leg units to cause them to assume a walking attitude as the toy is moved along on a base, and means independent of the legs by which the-toy is adapted to be moved to cause the said legs to operate.

2. A Walking toy consisting of a body having a plurality of leg units adapted to frictionally engage a base, each unit including a pair of stiff legs pivotally joined with the body to swing forwardly and backwardly relatively to the body and means connecting the several leg units `whereby to cause them to assume a walking attitude, with the leg of one unit moving forwardly as the leg at the corresponding side of another unit remains at a position indicat-ing backward movement, and means independent of the legs by which the toy is adapted to be moved to cause the said legs to operate.

3. In a walking toy, a plurality of leg units adapted to frictionally engage a base, each of the said units comprising a pair of legs, a body for each pair of legs to which the leg units are pivotally connected to swing in-a forward and backward direction relatively to their respective body portions, means for connecting all of the bodies whereby they have a iXed relation to each other and other means connecting all of the leg units whereby as the toy is moved forwardly or backwardly all of the leg units will assume a uniform walking attitude.

4. A walking toy comprising a pair of leg units adapted to frictionally engage a base, each of said units including two legs, a body portion for each pair of legs to which the said legs are pivotally connected to swing in forward and backward directions, a device for each pair of legs mounted on the body portion that engages with the legs for imparting forward oscillation to one leg of each pair of legs as the other leg of said pair of legs is at the rest position and other means that join one pair of legs with another pair of legs for causing the legs of one pair to move in the alternate direction with respect to the movement of the legs of the other pair.

5. A walking toy comprising a body, a pair of leg units each composed of two legs, said legs being pivotally joined at their upper ends to the body, the said body being chambered to receive the upper leg ends, a horizonally disposed rocker device for each of the pairs of leg mounted within the chambered body with the opposite 'ends thereof flexibly connected with the opposing adjacent upper ends of the legs, rocker members connecting the rocker devices of another leg unit whereby the two leg units are caused to move in unison and a cover v plate for engaging the chambered part of the body whereby -to incase the operative parts that transmit motion from one set of units to the other set of units.

FRANK CRIEST. 

